A judge in New Jersey has ordered a woman to remove three flags containing the letter f associated with Democratic presidents Joe BidenIf she does not do this, she will have to pay a fine of $250 per day. The lady’s daughter said she would not remove them.
The property belongs to Patricia Dilascio. But her daughter Andrea Dick displayed these flags. A total of six flags were hung on the wooden fence facing the street.
One of the banners read: “Don’t blame me, I voted for Trump.” Another said, “Socialism is terrible, Biden blows.” Another declared “Joe Biden sucks.” Three flags read “F * ck Biden”, and one of them added “Not my President”.
Roselle Park City Court Judge Gary Bundy said Dilascio must remove the f-word logo within a week. Otherwise, she will have to pay the above fine.
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The mayor of the town, Joe Signorello, said the flags were hung one block away from an elementary school so that children could see them clearly. The local law also prohibits the display of “any obscene material” in the residence.
However, Dick has already said that she will not remove these signs. She can appeal the decision of Judge Bondi. The owner’s lawyer, Michael Campania, said the daily fine and the order to remove the flag violated women’s right to freedom of speech.
Campania said: “In Nazi Germany, when Hitler didn’t like something, they burned books and then burned the people to death.” “I don’t think we want this to happen in Roselle Park.”
Although the use of f-words on banners is not pornographic in nature, municipal lawyer Jarrid Kantor stated that even freedom of speech is “reasonably restricted.” According to NJ.com, in court hearings, he asked the judge whether ordinary people using “contemporary community standards” would consider these flags to be obscene, as stated in the law.
“All we ask is for her to comply and cancel these,” Signorello said. “She can post all the signs of support for Trump she wants, as long as they are not… vulgar in nature.”
But this is only one of several recent disputes involving anti-Biden flags with profanity.
In early July, Dwayen Cole, the mayor of Mountford, Tennessee, stated that a city resident would continue to display the flag. The banner read: “Fuck Biden, fuck you vote for him.” Cole said that this banner is protected by the Free Speech Act, but a similar yard sign would violate the municipal law and must be removed.
In March, a resident of Jackson, Michigan began hoisting a similar profanity flag.Ken Katkin, a professor of law at Northern Kentucky University, said that although some courts do not like adults exposing children to profanity, the non-sexual context of the f on the banner may prevent judges from interpreting information as obscene Washington Examiner.
According to YourErie.com, in Erie, Pennsylvania, a man named Jim Greenawalt fluttered the same flag from his front porch and was allowed to continue flying because of his freedom of speech. Neither Greenwater nor the Mumford man had any plans to remove the flag.
A lawyer told the aforementioned website that the Greenwater banner is legal, as long as it does not interfere with municipal functions or incite violence through hate speech.
Anthony Ragusa, a resident of Hazlet, New Jersey, has two flags against Biden. One said “F*ck Joe Biden” and the other said “Biden sucks.” On June 17, the town’s law enforcement agency told him to remove these flags because their “offensive language” “has a high profile for school-age children and motorists”.
If Ragusa does not remove the flag within 10 days, the town threatens to take further action. For the local children, he removed the profanity flag on it. However, he stated that if the government tries to get him to remove his second flag, he is ready to go to court.
Weekly newspaper Contact the American Civil Liberties Union for comments.
